I still cannot believe that we actually did it. Im a night owl. Yet somehow my wife and I managed to be in bed by 8:00 Monday night. By 4:15 we were up and ready, in the car, and backing out of the driveway. Apparently, my wife, her family, and all our friends think Im psycho anyway, so I might as well just add to their humor by leaving at such an early time. But the payback was mine. We missed all the traffic jams. Flew through Columbia, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Daytona and were in Lake Buena Vista by 12:15 in time for lunch.
I tried something new this time. With the success of Disneys online booking system for the cruise line, I figured I would try the new one that came out for the resorts. So upon our arrival at All-Star Movies, I head straight for the special check in line they have reserved for people who checked in early. It works well. Too well. I walked up and said my name, the girl turned around, looked through a file, and handed me my room key and information packet. In the speediness of the check in, she forgot to give me a balloon and I didnt realize it until later. Bummer.
By the way, my nephew is a huge fan of Toy Story, so we were very happy to have gotten a room in the Toy Story section of the resort. More on that later.
After checkin , lunch, and a brief picture taking tour of the resort, we retired to the pool bar. I got a Yuengling and my wife got a Corona. It was $15. Welcome back to Disney.
Let me give a little background. Last time we were at Disney was in November. At that time, I found a t-shirt (and I happen to be wearing it again now as I write this) that brought a smile to my face. Its at the World of
Disney store in Downtown Disney and says Por favor mantangese alejadro de las puertas with a picture of the monorail. For those that dont recognize that, its a legendary part of the spiel from the monorails. As the doors are getting ready to shut, the announcer says Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantangese alejadro de las puertes.
Im wearing this shirt on Tuesday, and as were sitting at the $15 bar, one of the other patrons looks over and says Where did you get that shirt? Practically yelled it he seemed so excited by it. After I told him and he walked away, presumably to find the shirt, my wife turns to me and says You just love attention. You get so proud of yourself when somebody notices something like that. Yep, Im a shallow man.
Then, its just waiting time. The munchkins arrival time is set for 3:00 so we have a little bit of time to kill before they get there. Since weve been up since 3:30 this morning, that means its naptime. Weve got the phone next to the bed waiting for the call that theyve arrived. 3:00, 3:15, By 3:30, Im up and around but still no sign. 4:00 comes and goes. Im getting worried now. Theyre coming all the way from Key West. Finally a few minutes after 4 I walk outside and just wander around to get my mind off of them. Then at 4:15 the phone rings, and I can see a blue Dodge truck pulling into the parking lot. The munchkins are here. But have they figured out where they are yet?
Nephew sees us and yells There they are and tries to pull away from Moms grasp. Thats not cool in a parking lot. Niece finally breaks free, runs up to me and says WERE AT DISNEY WORLD Okay, I guess they figured it out. Turns out that they never noticed a thing until they were in the parking lot of All Star Movies. Then, niece saw a sign with Mickey Mouse on it and the light went on. We were disappointed because we wanted to tell them. Oh well, there are a number of surprises in the next few days that should make up for this. And the first one is in just a few hours: The Rainforest Café.